A superbly crafted release from New York based
duo Rat Wakes Red, released on their own label Rat Disk. It's
a superbly crafted selection of 17 tracks in total, reminiscent
just a little of the music of Simon & Garfunkel, taking you
on some amazing journeys of sound, driven largely by acoustic
guitar, vocals, keyboards & viola, surprisingly without any
percussion throughout. The opening track is simply titled "Intro"
& that's exactly what it is, followed by a wonderful vocal
performance on "Stoned & Ravished" & "Dead
Ringer". The album is stacked full of highlights & it's
very hard to pick a clear favourite from the tracklisting here.
Other highlights include ""Gold", "Grave
Wide Open", "Silverfish" & "Day Haze",
but I think "Higher Places" would have to be the clincher
for my liking. Every song without exception sees this most interesting
of bands make their mark on your mind & it's to their credit
that they've stayed with a stripped back sound rather than resorting
to technical trickery or high amplification to try & improve
their already impressive sound as it's already about as good
as it gets.